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Forest Science and Technology

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Carbon and nitrogen inputs by litter fall in fertilized and unfertilized larch plantations
Choonsig Kim , Jaeyeob Jeong & Jin-Seoung Kim
a a a b

Department of Forest Resources, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, Jinju, 660-758, Korea
b

Department of Landscape Architecture, Dongshin University, Naju, 520-714, Korea

Available online: 09 Mar 2011

To cite this article: Choonsig Kim, Jaeyeob Jeong & Jin-Seoung Kim (2011): Carbon and nitrogen inputs by litter fall in fertilized and unfertilized larch plantations, Forest Science and Technology, 7:1, 17-22 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21580103.2011.559932

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Forest Science and Technology Vol. 7, No. 1, March 2011, 1722

Carbon and nitrogen inputs by litter fall in fertilized and unfertilized larch plantations
Choonsig Kima*, Jaeyeob Jeonga and Jin-Seoung Kimb
Department of Forest Resources, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, Jinju 660-758, Korea; bDepartment of Landscape Architecture, Dongshin University, Naju 520-714, Korea (Received 11 October 2010; Accepted 24 November 2010) This study was carried out to evaluate the eects of fertilization on carbon and nitrogen dynamics by litter fall of a 36-year-old larch (Larix leptolepis) plantation in the Sambong Exhibition Forests, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea. Litter was collected monthly between April 2003 and May 2006. Seasonal inputs of litter fall components such as needle, broad leaf, branch, bark and total litter inputs followed a similar pattern between fertilized and unfertilized plots. The annual amounts of the litter components were not signicantly dierent (P 4 0.05) between fertilized and unfertilized plots. Mean needle litter fall was similar between the fertilized (2564 kg ha71 yr71) and unfertilized plots (2501 kg ha71 yr71) and total annual litter fall averaged 3552 kg ha71 yr71 in the fertilized and 3541 kg ha71 yr71 in the unfertilized plots during the sampling period. Proportion of needle litter fall was slightly higher in the fertilized (72.2%) than in the unfertilized (70.8%) plots. Carbon concentrations of needle litter were not signicantly aected by fertilization (P 4 0.05), while there was a signicant fertilization eect on nitrogen concentrations with high nitrogen concentrations of needle litter in the fertilized (7.7 g kg71) compared with the unfertilized (6.8 g kg71) plots. There was no signicant dierence (P 4 0.05) in the organic carbon inputs by needle litter between the fertilized and unfertilized plots, whereas annual nitrogen inputs were signicantly higher in the fertilized (17.7 kg N ha71 yr71) than in the unfertilized (15.6 kg N ha71 yr71) plots. The results indicated that nitrogen dynamics by litter fall could be aected by fertilization, but a minimal impact to carbon dynamics by litter fall in the larch plantation. Keywords: carbon cycling; carbon dynamics; fertilization; Larix leptolepis; nutrient cycling
a

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Introduction Carbon and nitrogen return via litter fall has been suggested as the primary mechanism by which xed carbon and nitrogen are transferred to the soils (Berg and Laskowski 2006). In addition, litter fall inputs represent important components in the biogeochemistry through carbon and nutrient cycles in forest ecosystems because the turnover of litter is a major pathway by which carbon and nutrients enter forest soils (Bray and Gorham 1964; Gower and Son 1992; Kim et al. 1997; Kavvadias et al. 2001; Kim et al. 2005; Berg and Laskowski 2006). However, the amount of litter fall depends on several ecological factors and forest management activities, such as tree species, climate, site quality, stand increment, stand age, stand density, fertilization and thinning (Binkley 1986; Pedersen and Bille-Hansen 1999; Kim et al. 2005, 2008; Park et al. 2008; Jeong et al. 2009). Addition of fertilizer to increase forest productivity can aect the total amount of litter fall, and is likely to modify nutrient redistributions in soil layers because litter fall production increases resulting in increased accumulation of organic matter on the forest oor (OConnell and Grove 1993; Smith et al. 2000; Lee and Son 2006). Thus, the change of litter fall dynamics following fertilization has received considerable research attention with conicting results. For example, fertilization has been shown to increase (OConnell and

Grove 1993; Park et al. 2008) and exert no discernible eect (Lee and Son 2006; Smaill et al. 2008) on litter fall dynamics in forest ecosystems. However, nitrogen concentration and content in litter fall tend to increase as a consequence of nitrogen fertilization (Smith et al. 2000; Berg and Laskowski 2006). Larch (Larix leptolepis) plantations in an area of approximately 600,000 ha, planted from 1957 to 1990 (Korea Forest Service 2006), are the most common type of articial forest in Korea. This tree has been one of the major species planted for reforestation, and is managed intensively throughout the country (Lee et al. 2004). Although fertilizers have been used to increase annual tree growth (Joo et al. 1983) and/or to determine the nutrient dynamics of litter (Lee and Son 2006; Park et al. 2008), few attempts to synthetically and quantitatively examine the importance and behavior of carbon and nitrogen dynamics by litter fall inputs after fertilization in larch plantations have been undertaken (Lee and Son 2006). The objectives of this study were to determine the eects on the forest carbon and nitrogen dynamics by litter fall after fertilization in a larch plantation. Materials and methods The study was conducted in the Sambong Exhibition Forests located in Hamyang-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do,

*Corresponding author. Email: ckim@jinju.ac.kr

ISSN 2158-0103 print/ISSN 2158-0715 online 2011 Korean Forest Society DOI: 10.1080/21580103.2011.559932 http://www.informaworld.com

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C. Kim et al. the most important nutrient sink and sensitive to nutrient availability (Lee and Son 2006). Carbon and nitrogen concentrations from the ground materials were determined on an elemental analyzer (CE Instruments EA1110 Elemental Analyzer, ThermoQuest Italia SPA, Italy). Total carbon and nitrogen inputs by needle litter fall for two years (2003, 2004) were calculated by multiplying needle litter fall weight by carbon and nitrogen concentrations. The eect of fertilization treatment on the litter fall, carbon and nitrogen dynamics was analyzed using the general linear model procedure of SAS (SAS Institute 2003). Results and discussion Litter fall inputs in fertilized and unfertilized plots The seasonal litter fall inputs of needles, branches, broad leaves, bark, pine needles, cones and other miscellaneous components for both treatment plots are shown in Figure 1. Litter fall inputs in both treatments followed similar seasonal patterns because litter fall inputs are aected by climate, weather patterns (Gresham 1982), insect infestations (Pedersen and Bille-Hansen 1999), site and stand age. Needle litter fall inputs were not aected by fertilization and both treatments showed similar maximum values in autumn (Sep.Dec.). Many studies have reported a similar pattern for coniferous tree species because needles in temperate forests experience natural senescence in autumn (Bray and Gorham 1964; Kim et al. 2005; Jeong et al. 2009). Broad leaf and pine needle litter showed also a similar peak in autumn, the heaviest litter fall season in deciduous and coniferous tree species in temperate forests (Park et al. 2008; Jeong et al. 2009), while both litter types were little aected by fertilization. Seasonal patterns of production of woody litter, such as branches, bark and cones, were irregular in both treatments throughout the year (Figure 1). These large uctuations in woody litter production could be due to environmental factors such as storms and strong winds which may also have pronounced eects on woody litter fall (Christensen 1975; Park et al. 2008) rather than fertilization eects. Miscellaneous litter, such as needles, reproductive organs, bark and branch fragments that could not be classied, generally accumulated at higher rates in summer than in other seasons and were little aected by fertilization.

Korea. The annual average precipitation and temperature in this area are 1322 mm yr71 and 12.88C, respectively. Experimental plots were located in two adjacent 36-year-old Larix leptolepis plantations (358260 N, 1278370 E, 690 m; 358270 N, 1278380 E, 630 m) on a moderately productive upland site (Site Index 15). The mean tree densities of the plantations were slightly lower for the fertilized (456 trees ha71) than for the unfertilized (487 trees ha71) plots. The mean DBH between the fertilized (23.9 cm) and unfertilized plots (24.1 cm) was similar. The dominant understory tree species were Viburnum dilatatum, Lindera erythrocarpa, Rubus parvifolius, Quercus serrata, Q. acutissima, Schizandra chinensis, Staphylea bumalda, Zanthoxylum schinifolium, Juglans mandshurica, Styrax japonica, Stephanandra incisa, Z. schinifolium, Cornus controversa and Rhus sylvetris, etc. The experimental design consisted of a randomized complete block design with two blocks. Each block was divided into eight 20 m 6 10 m plots. Four fertilized and four unfertilized plots within each block were randomly assigned with a 5 m buer zone between each plot. Fertilizers were manually applied to the forest oor surface during the spring for two years: 24 May 2002 and 16 May 2003. Urea, fused superphosphate and potassium chloride fertilizers were used as sources of N, P and K, respectively, at rates of 112 kg N ha71 yr71, 75 kg P ha71 yr71 and 37 kg K ha71 yr71. These amounts of fertilizers were those generally recommended for a growth increment of mature coniferous forests in Korea (Joo et al. 1983). The soil texture was silt loam, with the chemical properties before the application of fertilizer treatments given in Table 1. To measure the dynamics of litter fall, carbon and nitrogen inputs following fertilization, three circular litter traps with a surface area of 0.25 m2, were installed 60 cm above the forest oor at each plot (total 48 litter traps). Litter was collected at monthly intervals between April 2002 and May 2006. The litter from each trap was transported to a laboratory and then oven-dried at 658C for 48 hours. All dried samples were separated into needle, bark, cones, branches and miscellaneous components, and each portion was weighed. The needle litter samples collected for a heavy litter fall season (November) were ground in a Wiley mill to pass through a 40 mesh (0.425 mm) stainless steel sieve. Carbon and nitrogen concentrations of needle litter were measured because needles are

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Table 1. Chemical properties of soil before fertilizer treatments in the study site (n 8). Exchangeable K pH (1:5 H2O) 4.9 (0.1) SOC (%) 7.0 (0.5) TN (%) 0.45 (0.12) Avail. P2O5 (mg kg71) 18.5 (2.8) CEC 20.9 (2.9) 0.52 (0.09) Na Ca2 Mg2

(cmolc kg71) 0.15 (0.05) 2.03 (0.31) 0.72 (0.15)

Numbers in parentheses are standard errors. SOC: soil organic carbon; TN: Total nitrogen; CEC: cation exchange capacity.

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Figure 1. Seasonal litter fall inputs between fertilized and unfertilized plots in L. leptolepis plantations. Vertical bars indicate one standard error (n 24).

The annual amounts of needles, branches, bark, miscellaneous litter and total litter fall were not signicantly dierent (P 4 0.05) between the fertilized and unfertilized plots (Figure 2). Because nutrient availability is generally considered the major environmental factor limiting growth in many temperate forest ecosystems (Binkley 1986), the fertilized plots would be expected to have greater needle litter fall mass compared with the unfertilized plots. However, mean needle litter fall inputs were similar between the fertilized (2564 kg ha71 yr71) and unfertilized plots (2501 kg ha71 yr71) during the three-year study (20032005) period (Figure 2). This result indicates that needle litter fall inputs in this larch plantation could be aected by similar basal area or stand density in both treatment plots rather than the fertilization eects. In addition, the similar amount of needle litter inputs produced in both treatments could be attributed to canopy closure in these mature plantations, as annual needle litter fall remains relatively constant after canopy closure (Bray and Gorham 1964; Gessel and Turner 1976; Park et al. 2008). The annual inputs of woody litter fall were similar between both treatments because the woody litter inputs could be aected by environmental factors such as storms or strong winds rather than the dierence of nutrient availability in stands (Christensen 1975).

Annual average total litter fall inputs for three years were not signicantly dierent (P 4 0.05) between the fertilized and unfertilized plots. Total annual litter fall averaged 3552 kg ha71 yr71 in the fertilized and 3541 kg ha71 yr71 in the unfertilized plots during the sampling period. Similarly, Lee and Son (2006) reported that there was no signicant dierence in the litter fall production in a 41-year-old larch plantation over two years after the application of fertilizer (200 kg N ha71 with 25 kg P ha71) between control (4551 kg ha71 yr71) and fertilizer treated (4991 kg ha71 yr71) plots. The values of total litter fall in these plots fall within the range established for other larch plantations in Korea (Kim et al. 2005), but are lower than the global mean value (about 5500 kg ha71 yr71) of coniferous forests for warm-temperate forests (Bray and Gorham 1964). Jeong et al. (2009) reported somewhat higher values (3953 kg ha71 yr71) for total litter fall for 46year-old larch plantations in the same location. The order for litter fall component inputs was: needles 4 branches 4 broad leaves 4 miscellaneous 4 bark 4 pine needles 4 cones in both treatment plots (Figure 2). Needle litter fall was the major component of total litter fall in both treatments, accounting for about 72.2% of total litter fall in the fertilized and 70.6% in the unfertilized plots. This

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Figure 2. Amounts of litter fall components between fertilized and unfertilized plots in L. leptolepis plantations. Vertical bars indicate one standard error. Same letters on each litter fall component indicate no signicant dierence at P 0.05 (n 24).

suggests that carbon allocation after fertilization may change from carbon sink tissue such as stem or roots to carbon source tissue such as foliage (Gough et al. 2004). Carbon and nitrogen inputs by needle litter fall in fertilized and unfertilized plots Carbon concentrations of needle litter were not signicantly aected by fertilization (P 4 0.05), while there was a signicant eect of fertilization on nitrogen concentrations of needle litter in 2003. Mean carbon concentration in needle litter was similar between the fertilized (478 g kg71) and unfertilized (476 g kg71) plots. In addition, carbon concentration of tree components was a poor indicator of fertilizer response (Kim et al. 2009) because the variation of carbon concentration in tree species is determined by genetic and environmental factors (Bert and Danjon 2006; Zhang et al. 2009). Another study reported a similar

carbon concentration between fertilized (539 g kg71) and unfertilized (538 g kg71) plots in Pinus radiata plantations (Smaill et al. 2008). Nitrogen concentration in needle litter was signicantly (P 5 0.05) higher in the fertilized than in the unfertilized plots during the second year (2003) of fertilization. Greater nitrogen concentrations of needle litter in the fertilized (7.7 g kg71) compared with the unfertilized (6.8 g kg71) plots could be due to the increased nitrogen uptake after fertilization (Berg and Laskowski 2006). Similarly, nitrogen concentration of needle litter in Pinus radiata plantations was signicantly higher in fertilized (8.4 g kg71) than in unfertilized (7.9 g kg71) plantations because tree species on high nitrogen availability tend to produce leaf litter with high nitrogen concentrations (OConnell and Grove 1993). However, nitrogen concentration of needle litter sampled in 2004 was not signicantly dierent between both treatment plots (Figure 3).

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Figure 3. Carbon and nitrogen concentration and inputs between fertilized and unfertilized plots in L. leptolepis plantations. Vertical bars indicate one standard error. Same letters on each litter fall component indicate no signicant dierence at P 0.05 (n 24).

This result could be attributed to no application of fertilizer in the year (2004). There was no signicant dierence (P 4 0.05) in the organic carbon inputs on the soil due to needle litter fall over the two year period between the fertilized and unfertilized plots (Figure 3). The mean organic carbon inputs were 1148 kg C ha71 yr71 for the fertilized and 1085 kg C ha71 yr71 for the unfertilized plots over the study period. Although the carbon inputs were expected to increase due to needle litter fall in response to fertilization, the similar productions of litter fall inputs between the fertilized and unfertilized plots could have been due to short-term fertilization trials or soil nutrients, which might not be limiting in this plantation (Lee and Son 2006). In contrast to organic carbon inputs, annual mean nitrogen inputs by needle litter were signicantly higher in fertilized (17.7 kg N ha71 yr71) than in unfertilized (15.6 kg N ha71 yr71) plots. Nitrogen inputs were 13.5% greater on fertilized compared with unfertilized plots. Increase of nitrogen inputs in fertilized plots was closely related to change of nitrogen concentration of needle litter following fertilization rather than needle litter fall mass (Figure 3). Conclusion A seasonal pattern and annual amounts of litter fall components in a larch plantation were not aected by fertilization. Also, the organic carbon concentration and inputs by needle litter fall were not related to the application of fertilizer over the study period. However, nitrogen concentration and inputs by needle litter was signicantly aected by fertilization. The results indicated that fertilization could have a minimal

impact on the carbon cycle, while the nitrogen cycle could dier considerably between fertilized and unfertilized plots in this larch plantation. Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology Grant (2010) and partially by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (KRF-No. R05-2002-000-00869-0).

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